PDN - July 2012

Opposite page: An image from Gregory Halpern’s exhibition “A.” Above: “Gladiator” by Jesse Burke (left) and “New Homes” by Amy Stein (right). All three artists are represented by ClampArt.

Decode [a small publisher in Seattle] that I liked.” Over the four days at Review Santa Fe, Burke and Clamp got to talk. “He continued to stay in touch, I continued to keep an eye on what he was doing. Eventually it grew into representation, about a year later.” After representing Burke’s work for a time, Clamp decided to do a show.

Clamp notes that Burke’s path to having a gallery in New York City was similar
to that of Amy Stein, another artist Clamp represents, whom he also met first at
Review Santa Fe. Though both are based on the East Coast, “They started showing
on the West Coast or in Europe before their work made it to New York.” Often, he
says, “Artists get their feet wet in another market outside New York and then the
work finds its way back to New York City.”
When he met Stein, she had received her Masters of Fine Art from New York
City’s School of Visual Arts, and her portfolio contained a few images in a series
that she would eventually expand and publish as a book, Domesticated. Soon after
their meeting, he recalls, “Her name just kept popping up.” He saw one of her prints
in a benefit auction, for example, and he served as a juror for contests she entered.
“The more times I see something, the more confident I feel about showing it in the
gallery.” Her galleries also began bringing her prints to art fairs. “I’m often walking
around art fairs with clients and that’s a chance to gauge their reaction when they
see the work in person,” Clamp observes. “If [artists] have shown in galleries and art
fairs, you can get a sense of what the public reaction will be and how well it might
sell.” He adds, however, that waiting until an artist has a proven track record of sales
before representing them carries a risk for a gallery. “If their three best images are
already sold out, it may be too late to take on that body of work.”
He advises emerging artists not to spend money to travel to portfolio reviews until
they’re comfortable showing and talking about their work—both with reviewers and
with other photographers they’re likely to meet at the event. “Sometimes people show
their work to other artists who know me and know my esthetic, who will say: ‘You
really have to show this to Brian.’” He adds, “As an emerging artist, you want your work
to be seen by as many people as possible, and there are many ways to go about that.”